289 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

Every time I pick up a book by Jodi Picoult I am amazed all over again. She writes like I imagine I can, with a deft twist of plot and an even defter (more deft) turn of the phrase. As I read her books I find myself wishing I had someone I could stop and share a sentence or paragraph with. Her writing makes you want to call up your best friend and say, Listen to this, isnt this the most fabulous thing youve heard?

Delia Hopkins dreams of a lemon tree and from there starts a story that spins her world out of control. Soon she finds herself in Arizona with a young daughter, an alcoholic fiance, and the man whose presence has completed the triumvirate of friendship since childhood. With her world tipped upside down and sideways Delia has to work her way through to the other side; while she learns that it isnt the memories of our lives that are the most important thing.

This is the first Jodi Picoult book I read and half way through I ordered all the others available on PBS. This is an amazing author and I wish more people wrote like her. Each chapter is through the eyes of one of the main characters and it makes the book so much richer and we understand so much more because we see the same story through different eyes and this gives us the story as a whole instead of from only one perspective. You will think you know exactly what is going on in this book and then it twists just a little and changes everything.

I almost put this book down when I found out what the father did, because I was scared it would have a horrible ending. I'm so glad I kept reading. Great book. I couldn't put it down, and there were many twists and turns along the way. This is my first book by her, and I'm now sure it won't be my last.

This is another wonderful book by Picoult: lyrical, touching, frightening, sensible and sensitive, thought-provoking. Full of well-drawn, real characters and specific details of place that take you on that journey, too. A joy.

Good book, wonderful characters, interesting situations, lots of suspense. I personally have a background in psychiatry and had some problems with the reactions of various folks to the situations in which they are placed...especially toward the end when the pace becomes more rapid.
It is about Delia, a young lady raised by her Dad whose two best friends are guys she grew up with. The tale revolves around her alleged kidnap by her father (from her mother who had custody) 28 yrs. ago when she was 4.Her father, Andrew gets jailed for his crime even tho in Arizona where he is jailed, what he did would no longer be considered a crime. Sooo ignore the shaky premises and enjoy the fiction!

Another excellent Picoult read! I had to put the book down a few times, as I have 3 and 4 year old daughters myself, but overall, it was a very good book. The ending left a lot of things open to interpretation as to where the characters wound up later, but the storylines did wrap up pretty well.

This is my second Jodi Picoult novel that I have read. The first one had left me slightly disappointed and thinking that she just wasn't my type of writer, but I am very glad that I gave her a second chance. I really enjoyed this book. I especially enjoyed the fact that this story had several narrators. It was laid out in a way that was not confusing, and I felt really added to the story by allowing the reader to get into the heads of the characters and see how differently they all viewed everything. Overall, I found the book to be very thought-provoking and something that I could easyily relate to.

I just finished this book last night. It was really good overall. I think I am building myself up for a bigger twist at the end, so on the final page I still had more questions. But I think Jodi does that on purpose!

The Hopi traditions section got to be a little much and didn't really mesh well with the rest of the story.

Love Jodi Picoult, this book does not dissapoint. As with all of her books it makes you see every side of the situation.

A young woman finds out that the mother she thought was dead is actually alive and that she had been taken from her at age four. She discovers the reason she was taken and has to deal with the emotions of meeting a mother she thought was dead and a discovering a father she adored lied to her.

UGH!!!!!
This was a GREAT book, up until the ending few chapters I just wanted to throw it I was so mad. She went through the whole book with such detail such ... grace(?) until the end, and then.....She rushed it. It was like she got bored with the story so sad.. it was realy SO SAD. She might of been leaving it open for a second book, but that would make little to no sense.
If you want to read her books, I wouldn't suggest making this the first book you read of hers.

I love books that make me think, and this is definitely one of those. In Vanishing Acts, Jodi Picoult explores the impact of our decisions. Would you break the law if you knew it was the right thing to do? Would you change someone's life forever in order to save them? Would you sacrifice everything? And even after the consequences come to bear, would you do it all over again - every bit of it?

This is one of those rare books that makes you take out your long-held beliefs, brush off the dust, and give them another look with a much more critical eye. Anything that manages to do that, in my opinion, is worth the read.

This was my first Jodi Picoult read. I have heard from many Picoult fans that this is not her best work so I was hesitant to pick it up, but I'm glad I did. The story, although a bit slow going at times, was compelling and thought-provoking, showing that sometimes there is justification in doing the wrong thing for the right reason. The characters were incredibly flawed but that is what made them interesting. I'm glad I read this book, good, but not great, will read more Picoult in the near future.

Not one of my favorites. I felt like she tried to do too much in one novel, and while I usually have trouble picking up her novels, this one I sort of put down and didn't feel like picking it up. Still worth the read, though.

Good read, provokes emotional turmoil in yourself. But like alot of her books the ending leaves you asking what happened. Did she loose interest or just run dry of ideas. I wish she would finish her books with the gusto she has in the beginning.

Very good book. Delia has a great life. A father who loves her, a handsome fiance, and a wonderful best friend. She has a young daughter and is a search and rescue worker with a bloodhound. However, she begins to have flashbacks and begins questioning things, which opens up some doors to her past that she is not sure need to be confronted. This book was very well written and kept me interested from start to finish.

Unfortunately I read My Sister's Keeper as my first ever Picoult novel. This was my 2nd and it paled in comparison. It was good enough to continue reading and I did enjoy the story it just didnt grab me as Picoults previous novel. However, I've found a new author to continue exploring as she does write a great story that will keep you looking for more.

I like Jodi Picoult, but didn't think this was one of her best. It felt like she chose issues to make a statement about, then worked the story around it. It was worth reading, but not as good as My Sister's Keeper or Plain Truth

This is a beautifully written and crafted novel, but I did not find myself as drawn in as I should have. For some reason, I did not connect emotionally to most of the characters. However, it is such a well crafted novel that I still enjoyed myself and didn't have any trouble finishing it. There is a strong chance that I will read another novel by this author in the future, even though I did not LOVE this book like so many others.

A woman finds out that her life my not have been exactly as she currently remembers it. You end up going back and forth between being ticked off to having sympathy for some of the characters. An amazing story that unwinds.

I sometimes feel like Jodi Picoult is the Steven King for mommies. She takes all my worst nightmares for my children and puts them down on paper. This was another wonderfully told story and I loved seeing the story develop from different points of views of the main characters. This is one of my all time favorites. I found myself thinking about this book for weeks after I had finished it, wondering what I would have done in this situation, the power of memories and how they can be altered into what we think happened. All the characters had vanished at one point and it was the finding of them that brought the story together. Can't recommend high enough.

A story about a woman who learns her identity has been changed without her knowledge, and the reasons why unfold, as we learn of her father's secrets and her past life. Great mystery, I was addicted to it. The only negative I can say is...I could have done without the prison scenes, and the activities that occur there, as were implied. Other than that, I enjoyed it, another page turner by Picoult!

This was an okay, even though it was an earlier publication by the author. However, if I continue to run across a pattern of lack-of-originality by the author, I may have to abandon reading future novels. The book is filled with cliches we've already seen on television programs. I honestly think Picoult would make a great politician due to her ability to appeal to mainstream by sensationalizing tragedies we've seen in the media.

There were some parts that dragged out and were filled with fluff that makes you think the author writes her books hoping that they are made into movies for tv. It definitely had too many filler pages with nonsense. Including how to make meth with pretty detailed instructions so that readers can play "Breaking Bad" the home game. :P She also manages to plagerize herself by reusing a prison inmates suicide in another book.

Overall, I finished this because I had nothing better to do. Luckily, I've read later novels by the author and haven't minded them.

Having just finished The Tenth Circle and feeling there just wasn't a character easy to root for, Vanishing Acts was completely different.

Loaded with a variety of interesting characters and a plot with enough loose ends to keep me interested, I hoped this book wouldn't end in her typical style that often leaves a reader feeling uneasy. Picoult came through for me.

The moral and ethical mine fields created by lies told to each other in this novel has me wondering. Does anyone have the right to lie or keep a secret out of love? Read the book and decide for yourself.

Jodi Picoult is one of my favorite authors. I find some of her work brilliant and others not as compelling. "Vanishing Acts" falls into the latter category. This book was predictable and at times a bit uninteresting. The ending went out of the way to be unconventional. But in doing so it left it unsatisfying. That said, even a less-than-wonderful Picoult novel is better than 90% of the fiction published today, certainly it's always better written.

I love this author! It is a story about self discovery and finding out that your name isn't as important as the life you lived, and that sometime people may have the best intentions, but dont always make the right choices. A must read.

Well, I think is the first or second time I have re-read this one. And it is pretty good, though it feels a bit more incomplete than her books usually do. Mostly because the ending is a little too open. . . two major parts of the plot were not really definitively concluded.

But, it's still an emotional book, especially in its dealings with alcoholism. Again, it brings back a Native American theme. The prison sequences are a little stupid and also go rather unresolved.

All in all, this isn't her finest work, nor is it her worst. It's somewhere in the middle.

Not my favorite of the Picoult books. Well. My least favorite so far, really. I didn't really get "into" it at all, but it did pick up during the last 1/3 of the book. But most of her books don't take that long for me to become interested in them.

This is a beautifully written and crafted novel, but I did not find myself as drawn in as I should have. For some reason, I did not connect emotionally to most of the characters. However, it is such a well crafted novel that I still enjoyed myself and didn't have any trouble finishing it. There is a strong chance that I will read another novel by this author in the future, even though I did not LOVE this book like so many others.

What can I say? Jodi Picoult is my new favorite author. I've read three of her books so far and have all her other's on my wish and reminder lists. Loved it! I also highly recommend My Sister's Keeper by the same author.

Another complex and thought-provoking read by Picoult. This story centers on a child who was kidnapped by her father -- but starts with her as a grownup, deeply happy with the only parent she remembers. Facinating story of how your past, whether or not remembered, colors your choices in the present.

Jodi Picoult is one of my favorite authors. She writes in the voices of her characters. This one written in 2005 has you so involved. Delia suddenly finds she was kidnapped and raised by her father when she was a very young girl. She now has a child of her own. She has to deal with her father's arrest for her kidnapping, reunion with her mother (whom she thought had died), and her fiance's addiction. I could not put this book down!

THe story explores how life as we know it might not turn out the way we imagined;how the people we've loved and trusted can suddenly change before our eyes;how the memory we thought had vanished could return as a treat.

Disappearing Acts is deftly and dramatically takes on questions of honesty, loyalty, redemption, responsibility, fidelity, and identity, addressing a fascinating premise: What if you found out that the father who you love and trust had actually kidnapped you, and deprived you of a mother who you spent your life mourning? It is easy to root for Picoult's heroine, Delia Hopkins, a likeable character who balances her devotion to her young daughter and the single father who raised her with a fascinating career career finding missing people as the handler of a bloodhound trained to track human scent. Her daily life is buoyed by the steadfast friendship of two men who love her, childhood neighbors: one, Delia's fiancee, an unstable but devoted alcoholic in recovery, confronting his own childhood neglect as he tries to parent the daughter he has with Delia, and two, their best friend Fitz, who is in love with Delia but is quietly sacrificing his own chance at happiness in order to see her happy.

Picoult keeps the plot moving with ever-more complex scenarios, challenging the reader to ask when breaking the law may be justified, what punishments are fair for what crimes, and whether it is possible to ever truly find redemption for past mistakes.

What makes the novel most interesting -- multiple points of view including Delia, her husband Eric, her best friend Fitz, her father Andrew, and her mother Elise -- is also the novel's greatest weakness. Although the frequent shift in perspective allows the reader access to each character's internal dialogue as the plot progresses, no character is allowed to fully develop, and the shift in time and perspective is somewhat choppy. At times, what is unspoken between the characters stretches credulity: we have access to their internal dialogue, but it is difficult to understand how the characters can function under such stress when they seem seldom to talk to each other about huge emerging issues. And while the storyline focusing on the incarceration before trial of Delia's father is harrowing and riveting, it stretches credulity that he would endure so much and take on so many challenges and dangers without communicating about any of it with his beloved daughter or attorney.

Picoult also touches on thorny issues related to incarceration and addiction, alcoholism and parenting, and child sexual abuse and recovered memory, not enough to be preachy or didactic, but just engagingly enough to pique thoughtful questions. Overall, it's a somewhat flawed novel structurally, but a highly enjoyable and thought-provoking read. At its end, I wished for a sequel, wanting to find out how these characters had rebuilt their lives after so many cataclysmic changes.

This was the first book I had ever read by Jodi Picoult. I really enjoyed it. The story was original, I liked the characters and I liked that the book was told from a few different perspectives (from different characters). I did think the ending was a bit abrupt, but I can forgive that. Very good book!

Wow, this was my first Jodi Picoult book. I found this story to be well written, with great attention paid to characterization. The plot was unusual and thought provoking. I think I will now be requesting more of Ms. Pocoult's works.

This was the first book of hers that I read and I liked it very much, though I didn't expect to. I expected it to be much more sensational than it was. It really showed the working of close relationships, and what is important in life as well as studying what is "right" and "wrong."

This is the first book Ive read by Jodi Picoult and I found it a lot more interesting than I thought it would. I never once got bored while reading this story. Quite the contrary. I wouldn't wait to read the next page.

I read this book at the incessant urging of my best friend and can't understand why she was so insistent. It is a fairly good book with a twisting, detailed and very involved plot, but I never could form a firm bond with the main character - Delia Hopkins. I really did not much care what happened to her which of course colors my opinion of the book. Her story was interesting but I never really connected with her.

She was brought up by her father who "kidnapped" her at an early age and she did not meet her mother until she was 28 years of age. By then she had her own daughter who was around the same age as Delia when she was "kidnapped." Delia had 2 men in her life - next door neighbors on each side of her that she grew up with and who were both "in love" with her as adults.

The story takes place while her father is being tried for his crime of running off to another state with his daughter Delia and telling her that her mother is dead. Jodie Picoult knows how to tell a good story which holds your interest through all 418 pages. But really just not my kind of book.

This was an okay, even though it was an earlier publication by the author. However, if I continue to run across a pattern of lack-of-originality by the author, I may have to abandon reading future novels. The book is filled with cliches we've already seen on television programs. I honestly think Picoult would make a great politician due to her ability to appeal to mainstream by sensationalizing tragedies we've seen in the media.

There were some parts that dragged out and were filled with fluff that makes you think the author writes her books hoping that they are made into movies for tv. It definitely had too many filler pages with nonsense. Including how to make meth with pretty detailed instructions so that readers can play "Breaking Bad" the home game. :P She also manages to plagerize herself by reusing a prison inmates suicide in another book.

Overall, I finished this because I had nothing better to do. Luckily, I've read later novels by the author and haven't minded them.

I really enjoy Jodi Picoult's books, but sometimes they are too intense for me and I actually wish I could scratch some images out of my brain after reading them (e.g. Nineteen Minutes). Not so with this book. It is well written, it's Jodi Picoult after all, but did not leave emotional scars.

This book was fairly good, but not nearly as good as others by Ms. Picoult. I feel she got bogged down with details that weren't necessary to the storyline. I even skipped a couple of sections, because I didn't feel like I was enjoying what I was reading and it wasn't really important to the outcome of the book, as far as I could tell. Otherwise, the story was a good one and the end was pretty good.

Another good Jodi Picoult book! As always, she writes about topics that can be very controversial. This one involves the issue of parental kidnapping and whether there are times when this is the right thing to do. Jodi examines the legal, moral and emotional issues of all those involved. Very good read!

From the back cover:
How do you recover the past when it was never yours to lose?
Delia Hopkins has led a charmed life. Raised in rural New Hampshire by her beloved, widowed father, she now has a young daughter, a handsome fiance, and her own search-and-rescue bloodhound, which she uses to find missing persons. But as Delia plans her wedding, she is plagued by flashbacks of a life she can't recall ... until a policeman knocks on her door, revealing a secret about herself that changes the world as she knows it - and threatens to jeopardize her future. With Vanishing Acts, Jodi Picoult explores how life - as we know it - might not turn out the way we imagined; how the people we've loved and trusted can suddenly change before our very eyes; how the memory we thought had vanished could return as a threat. Once again, Picoult handles an astonishing and timely topic with understanding, insight, and compassion.

I am once again amazed with the writing of Jodi Picoult. I believe this is the fourth book I've read by her, and believe me, after the second one, she had already become one of my favorite authors. I was so surprised with every event which took place as the story went on, and I definitely didn't expect it to end the way it did. Jodi Picoult is amazing and kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time reading this book!

A classic Jodi Picoult book that fans of hers will enjoy. It has what readers expect from Picoult: courtroom drama, family drama and thought-provoking debates on topical themes. I enjoyed the chapters on Native American culture. Can't say that I "enjoyed" them, but the chapters on life in a prison seem well-researched. Will leave the reader questioning what is memory and its role in identity?

Jodi Picoult's books always seem to be based on an intriguing premise. In this novel, a young woman, about to marry her child's father, who is a recovering alcoholic, discovers she is not who she believed she was, but had been kidnapped by her father. Ironically,she works with a bloodhound and is trained to track down missing persons. As she slowly uncovers her past, and meets the mother she thought was dead, there are intertwining stories about prison life, law, alcoholism, and of three childhood friends who tell this tale from their different viewpoints. I enjoyed the book very much.

Great book, you become familiar with all characters. It would be amazing to find out that you are somebody different than you thought you were and just how would you feel. Lots of twists that keep you on the edge of your seat waiting to find out what will happen next.

This book lost me for a while. But when it pulled me back in I couldn't put it down and ended up awake until the early hours of the morning trying to finish it. Her character adaptation is truly remarkeable.

Another good read by Jodi Picoult. Her novels are written to make you think about different issues. The issue in this one is one of what would you do if your life isn't really what you thought. How do you deal with all of the ramifications of discovering who you were(or are)? You get to know each of the main characters as they tell their stories and there is an unexpected twist at the end.

I just finished reading _Vanishing Acts_ by Jodi Picoult and it was very riveting! Imagine finding out when you're 32 that your beloved father kidnapped you and you had a mother living far away that you thought dead. Imagine seeing your father taken away by police charged with kidnapping (you)! Imagine being close to your wedding with your best friend from childhood on and handing him the daunting task of defending your father in another state!

In her usual great way, Jodi has woven intricate patterns of plots, subplots and surprises! Read it - you won't be sorry!

This was an okay, even though it was an earlier publication by the author. However, if I continue to run across a pattern of lack-of-originality by the author, I may have to abandon reading future novels. The book is filled with cliches we've already seen on television programs. I honestly think Picoult would make a great politician due to her ability to appeal to mainstream by sensationalizing tragedies we've seen in the media.

There were some parts that dragged out and were filled with fluff that makes you think the author writes her books hoping that they are made into movies for tv. It definitely had too many filler pages with nonsense. Including how to make meth with pretty detailed instructions so that readers can play "Breaking Bad" the home game. :P She also manages to plagerize herself by reusing a prison inmates suicide in another book.

Overall, I finished this because I had nothing better to do. Luckily, I've read later novels by the author and haven't minded them.

From Amazon.com
From Publishers Weekly
"Each of the five narrators in this excellent audiobook speaks intimately to the listener, capitalizing on the emotional complexity of Picoult's heart-wrenching tale. Delia Hopkins, read with simple grace by Gibson, immediately seizes the listener's attention when she relates how, on an ordinary day in smalltown New Hampshire, her beloved father, Andrew, is arrested for having kidnapped her, 28 years earlier, from the mother she long thought was dead. Delia's fiancé, Eric, and her best friend, Fitz (both of whom are given appropriately cultured New England accents), add dimension to this multifaceted exploration of love and identity, but Delia's parents, read by Jenner and Washington, offer the most noteworthy performances. Jenner successfully conveys the rainbow of personalities Andrew encounters while being held in an Arizona jail. Washington, meanwhile, embodies Delia's darkly tragic mother, who emerges as both a gentle healer with a dulcet Southwestern accent and a mother who was never there for her young child."

Piccoult is one of my "guilty pleasure" authors. I have read many of her novels and can't seem to put them down once I start reading.

This was the third book I have read by Jodi Picoult, now on my fourth. I found that I didn't enjoy this one as much as I had her other books. My Sisters Keeper and Keeiping Faith kept me very interested and wanting to keep reading, not so much the same for this one. I just couldn't get interested in it. Wasn't horrible, just not one of my favorites..

In this book, Jodi Picoult explores what happens when a young woman's past - a past she didn't even know she had - catches up to her just in time to threaten her future.
One night as she is planning her wedding, a policeman knocks on her door, revealing a secret that changes her world as she knows it. In shock and confusion, the heroine, Delia, must sift through the truth, even when it jeopardizes her life and the lives of those she loves.
Another wonderful, contemporary read by this most excellent writer!

While I give this book a 4 star for writing. And it's a good story and all...I don't ever want to read another one of her books. I found the detailed description of drug production to be completely unnecessary and a crime in and of itself. It didn't do a damn thing for the story...in fact it pulls the reader right out of the story, along with the rap songs...and think of the harm it could do! Yeah, I get it jail sucks...don't want to be there! There are a hundred other ways the author could have expressed that...including with the drug production without the details. Okay, there's my rant. She's a good writer...there were no surprises in the plot, but it was carried out with expertise.

This was an okay, even though it was an earlier publication by the author. However, if I continue to run across a pattern of lack-of-originality by the author, I may have to abandon reading future novels. The book is filled with cliches we've already seen on television programs. I honestly think Picoult would make a great politician due to her ability to appeal to mainstream by sensationalizing tragedies we've seen in the media.

There were some parts that dragged out and were filled with fluff that makes you think the author writes her books hoping that they are made into movies for tv. It definitely had too many filler pages with nonsense. Including how to make meth with pretty detailed instructions so that readers can play "Breaking Bad" the home game. :P She also manages to plagerize herself by reusing a prison inmates suicide in another book.

Overall, I finished this because I had nothing better to do. Luckily, I've read later novels by the author and haven't minded them.

This was an okay, even though it was an earlier publication by the author. However, if I continue to run across a pattern of lack-of-originality by the author, I may have to abandon reading future novels. The book is filled with cliches we've already seen on television programs. I honestly think Picoult would make a great politician due to her ability to appeal to mainstream by sensationalizing tragedies we've seen in the media.

There were some parts that dragged out and were filled with fluff that makes you think the author writes her books hoping that they are made into movies for tv. It definitely had too many filler pages with nonsense. Including how to make meth with pretty detailed instructions so that readers can play "Breaking Bad" the home game. :P She also manages to plagerize herself by reusing a prison inmates suicide in another book.

Overall, I finished this because I had nothing better to do. Luckily, I've read later novels by the author and haven't minded them.

This is my first Picoult book, I found it drug on and on in parts and I got bored with it, I made myself finish it so I would know how it ended. I am going to try another one of hers before I decide if she is just not my kind of author.

Delia Hopkins has led a charmed life. Raised in rural New Hampshire by her beloved, widowed father, she now has a young daugher, a handsome fiance, and her own search-and-resuce bloodhound, which she uses to find missing persons. But as Delia plans her wedding, she is plagued by flashbacks of a life she can't recall...until a policeman knocks on her door, revealing a secret about herself that changes the world as she knows it---and threatens to jeopardize her future. With Vanishing Acts, Jodi Picoult explores how life---as we know it---might not turn out the way we imagined; how the people we've loved and trusted can suddenly change beofre our very eyes; how the memory we thought had vanished could return as a trheat. Once again, Picoult handles an astonshing and timely topic with understanding, insight, and compassion.

If you like JP books, then this one will not disappoint. I little darker than her other books, but still a great read. And while I should not be surprised by this point- I am was still taken away by the "twist ending". Loved it. Love JP.

Beautifully detailed and rich, characteristic of all Picoult's books. Some common elements permeate the book, including a deep friendship that stretches back to childhood and a somewhat sensationalist trial, but the characters are uniquely compelling.

From back of book: Delia Hopkins has led a charmed life. Raised by her father, she now has a young daughter, a fiancé, and her own search-and-rescue bloodhound, which she uses to find missing persons. But as Delia plans her wedding, she is plagued by flashbacks of a life she can't recall . . . until a policeman knocks on her door, revealing a secret about herself that changes the world as she knows it.

This is my second Jodi Picoult book. The ending wasn't as amazing as "My Sister's Keeper" but it was still a quick, fun, read. She has a very interesting style that is easy to get through, so much so that I hadn't realized that I had been reading for 5 hours until I finished the book!

I have yet to read a Jodi Picoult book I didn't like; however, this one is a real diversion from her other novels. It moves into the eerie realm of life on another plane with a compelling central character named Delia Hopkins.

This was my first Picoult novel, and I loved it. Great characters, completely compelling story, enjoyable twists-and-turns. Best of all-- the psychological aspects attached to the characters, including issues such as alcoholism, repressed memories, self-identity, parenting, are flawlessly executed.

IF LOVE JODI PICOLT! A WOMAN LEARNS THAT SHE IS NOT WHO SHE THINKS SHE IS WHEN HER FATHER IS ARRESTED FOR KIDNAPPING HER WHEN SHE WAS FIVE YEARS OLD - HE TOOK HER FROM HER MOTHER. THE AUTHOR EXPLORES THE FEELINGS OF THE MOTHER, FATHER DAUGHTER AND THE DAUGHTER'S FIANCE WHEN THE FATHER IS JAILED. TRULY A GREAT BOOK.

I just joined a book club. This book was the book of the month. I loved this story. At the ending of the first chapter the was a surprise which really prompted me to continue you reading to find out what happened. Delia and the other characters in this book seem to come alive. Each character is written in a different chapter, however they all go together. It is really easy to follow and a great read.

Delia led a perfectly happy life living with her father growing up. Her mother had passed away years before and she has a daughter and is engaged. But she keeps having flashbacks or memories that she can't figure out. Then one day a policeman knocks at her door and life as she knows it completely changes. Could her life be a total lie, could the father that she trusts so much be nothing but a liar?

I'm not the biggest Picoult fan...I can only read one of her books once in a while, or I get tired of the way she writes. I liked some of her others better, though I did find this interesting because it occurs partly in Phoenix, where I live. A pretty easy read.

This book kept my interest with the twists and turns right up to the end, about a father who takes his little girl away from her mother at age 4. She believes her mother is dead for 28 years, and when she meets her, her life unravels and things are not what she thought.

Really good mystery. Her world get tossed upside down when her father is arrested for kidnapping her years ago. Her husband is a lawyer and takes the case but it doesn't look hopeful. She drags her young daughter to Arizona for the trial and investigation. Where she finds out her mother isn't dead but alive and well.

This book was very different from the ones I usually read.. Excellent writing & I love books written in the first person!! Subject matter was pretty intense at times but so well written, I just couldn't put it down. My first of her books, but certainly not my last!!

Delia Hopkins has led a charmed life. Raised in rural New Hampshire by her beloved, widowed father, she now has a young daugher, a handsome fiance, and her own search-and-resuce bloodhound, which she uses to find missing persons. But as Delia plans her wedding, she is plagued by flashbacks of a life she can't recall...until a policeman knocks on her door, revealing a secret about herself that changes the world as she knows it---and threatens to jeopardize her future. With Vanishing Acts, Jodi Picoult explores how life---as we know it---might not turn out the way we imagined; how the people we've loved and trusted can suddenly change beofre our very eyes; how the memory we thought had vanished could return as a trheat. Once again, Picoult handles an astonshing and timely topic with understanding, insight, and compassion.

As a flaming Libertarian (socially liberal, fiscally conservative), I stopped reading this book just shy of halfway because of the liberal tripe. I'm used to reading books with liberal slants, but this was unnecessary (Sheriff Jack, nay, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, I do believe.) It's just pitiful for such a good writer to be so petty. I'm done with Jodi Picoult. DONE.

this was the first book i've read by this author and i'm impressed.
the story is difficult for me ...a child/woman waking up one day to find out that what you thought was your life was all a lie. there were so many words and sentences that made me gasp in recognition.
i will read more by this author

Jodi Picoult sticks to her tried and true formula with this story about a woman who learns many years after the fact that she was kidnapped as a child. Thorny ethical and legal issues as well as exhaustive research and the use of multiple storytellers are the hallmarks of this author's style. It works for this novel well enough, but I did find myself skimming some of the overly described scenes. It kept me up late, wanting to get to the end.

Jodi Picoult never fails to satisfy me when I want a good book to read. I have read so many of her books, and the amazing thing I find about her is that her books are not at all predictable. I have found with many authors that have published a lot of books, you only have to read a few chapters to know how they are going to end.

Delia Hopkins has lead a charmed life. Raised in rural New Hampshire by her beloved, widowed father, she now has a young daughter, a handsome fiance, and her own search & rescue bloodhound, which she uses to find missing persons. But as Delia plans her wedding she is plagued by flashbacks of a life she can't recall, until a policeman knocks on her door, revealing a seccret about herself that changes the world as she knows it--author Jodi Picoult, explores how life as we know it might not turn out the way we imagined, how people we've loved and trusted can suddenly change before our very eyes; how the memory we thought had vanished could return as a threat.

It is ok. This is the 3rd one I have read by here frist was my sisters keeper that was very good. The 2nd was the packt. That was good as well. This one I ust can't get in to. I was in to at frist. then it got to be like the ather 2 books I read by her. Maybe it was becouse of the lawer jail thing that thay all have in commine. If you like these books then it is for you just not for me.